13

The Hyde Park mastodon was discovered when Larry Lozier hired an excavator to deepen the pond in the backyard of his home in suburban Hyde Park, New York in 1999. After the excavation, the family noticed some unusual-looking logs that on further investigation turned out to be the bones of a mastodon.^[11]

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Activities include a video illustrating the formation of the solar system and planet Earth, the Fossil Preparation Lab, and a garden that mimics the landscape of the northeastern United States during the Ice Age, with tundra vegetation, polished gravel, and large boulders (glacial erratics).^[10] The exhibit also features a selection of fossils from PRI’s collection and the Hyde Park Mastodon.

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This exhibit leads visitors through billions of years, from the Big Bang to the present day, with an additional focus on the future as shaped by human effects and dependence on Earth. A Journey Through Time explores scientifically technical areas such as geologic processes, evolution, biodiversity as well as the cultural contexts of such scientific understanding. The exhibits include three subsections devoted respectively to the Devonian of central New York State; the Triassic-Jurassicof the Connecticut, Newark, and Hudson Valleys; and the Quaternary Ice Age. The exhibit contains four audio-visual object theaters featuring short films narrated by geologist and Cornell President Emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes.

10

This exhibit is a series of 544 mural paintings by artist Barbara Page. The mural functions as a visual record of an immense period of time—an eon, five hundred and fifty million years—between the origin of visible macroscopic life on the planet and the present. Each of the tiles represents the passage of one million years. Fossil fauna and flora make their appearance in chronological order against a background reflecting geologic events. All of the organisms are depicted at true scale.^[8] A book contains reproductions of each painting and describes their scientific context in detail.^[9]

9

PRI’s whale was mounted on a steel armature in a greenhouse on-site. The museum building was left open on the northeast end so that the whale could be brought through for installation. In November 2002, a crane carried the pieces into the building and lifted them to the ceiling, where they were attached to a beam built specifically for the purpose.^[7]

8

7

The specimen was obtained by the PRI in 1999, when Director Dr. Warren D. Allmon expressed interest in acquiring the skeleton after he was notified by the National Marine Fisheries Service that a 44-foot Northern Right Whale had been spotted dead off the coast of Cape May, New Jersey. PRI was informed that they could take the skeleton if they assisted with cleaning the whale carcass. Three days later, the skeleton arrived at PRI.^[6]

6

In 2003, North American Right Whale #2030," a whale skeleton, was installed in the museum lobby. By 2004, a permanent exhibit about the whale was put on view, funded by a grant from the Nelson B. Delavan Foundation. The whale was killed when she was caught in fishing cable. Rescuers attempted to free her, but she fought them off, swimming hundreds of miles before dying.^[5] The exhibit includes a short film by David Brown featuring footage of the unsuccessful attempts to rescue #2030 from the fishing gear that ultimately killed her.

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The Museum of the Earth has both permanent and traveling exhibits. Recent examples of the latter include 'Maize', 'Whales', and 'Science on the Half Shell', with 'Sanctuary Reef' planned to open in late June 2012. The permanent exhibits include The North American Right Whale #2030; Rock of Ages, Sands of Time; and A Journey Through Time.

3

The Museum occupies an 18,000-square-foot (1,700m²) addition to the PRI complex on Ithaca's West Hill. The building was designed by New York architectural firm Weiss/Manfredi. The design for the museum won theAmerican Institute of Architects's regional awards or "Excellence in Design" and "Honor Award for Architecture" in 2004.^[4]

Exhibits[edit]

2

In the spring of 1994, the PRI Board of Directors approved the proceedings for the initial planning of building a museum to operate in accordance with PRI. With state financial support of $2 million, PRI began the design process for the Museum of the Earth in January 1999. The museum opened to the public in 2003. The museum project took almost ten years to complete and cost more than $11 million.^[3]

1

The Museum of the Earth is a natural history museum located in Ithaca, New York. The museum was created in 2003 as part of the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI), which studies the history of the Earth and its life. Both PRI and the Museum of the Earth are formally affiliated with Cornell University.^[1][2] The Museum of the Earth is home to earth-science exhibits and science-related art displays with a focus on the concurrent evolution of the Earth and life.